FEATURE : CLOUD SOLUTIONS
“ Cloud will also relieve the businesses from typical IT considerations such as power , business continuity , data storage scalability while allowing them to acquire and integrate published APIs in their solutions . In terms of stability , scalability and Business Continuity , the cloud has established itself as worthy opponent to large propriety datacenters that come with considerable operational challenges ,” he said . level agreements . Finally , service edge visibility enables IT , teams , to guarantee that performance is sufficient and that end users are satisfied ,” he said .
While there is no doubt that cloud offers organisations the agility to launch new services and innovation fast , CIOs should avoid certain pitfalls when developing their company ’ s cloud strategy .
CIOS SHOULD REFRAIN FROM APPROACHING THE CLOUD ON AN AD-HOC BASIS ; INCORPORATING VARIOUS CLOUD COMPONENTS TACTICALLY AND WITHOUT A CLEARLY DEFINED STRATEGY .
Adil Kilzie , Head of CX , Enterprise Solutions and Cloud , KPMG
Mohan said CIOs must prioritise visibility and application performance while migrating to the cloud . “ The first step in successful cloud migration is having complete visibility into the performance of the company ’ s present configuration . IT teams also require cloud and application-agnostic troubleshooting skills to ensure that service quality and user experience are unaffected before and after workload migration . The multiple edges throughout the IT environment – from the client to the network to the data centre / cloud service edge – can produce visibility gaps .
“ Maintaining visibility with analytics and security throughout the cloud migration helps to ensure the delivery of high-quality services .
As a result , cloud monitoring can assist IT in determining how effectively an application operates in the cloud and whether the provider meets set service
Kilzie said CIOs should refrain from approaching the cloud on an ad-hoc basis ; incorporating various cloud components tactically and without a clearly defined strategy . He said this may result in a surge in the effort to maintain a cohesive IT architecture , data fragmentation , integration challenges and more .
“ Existing IT personnel can be trained and equipped with cloud skills ; however , onboarding new cloud specialists could help bring a new and a fresh perspective , albeit challenging in the current cloud manpower market shortage .
“ Similarly , there needs to be an updated cybersecurity plan that addresses the new architecture and prevent security gaps from arising as a result of the migration .
Selecting the right vendor is another decision that needs to be taken with meticulous consideration . Cloud outsourcing contracts tend to be more economical when they span longer periods but that could also lead to vendor lock-up ,” he said .
Kilzie added that CIOs should also be mindful of network connectivity issues in all of their territories of operation and scale up the network capacity following performance modeling and testing .
Farrington said : “ There are three key pitfalls that we commonly see being made . The first is not taking a holistic approach . Be that not aligning the cloud strategy with the business strategy nor the security strategy , forcing all cloud initiatives towards a single cloud platform , or taking a siloed approach that doesn ’ t consider the entire digital and physical estate . Organisations are looking for a seamless , secure digital platform that empowers success , not a bunch of siloed initiatives that are difficult to integrate and protect .
“ The second pitfall to avoid is viewing security as an add-on rather than an integral and critical enabler to cloud success . Cloud is all about agile workflows . Trying to add security into a streamlined , automated workflow after its creation is at best going to slow things down , at worst break it entirely and demand a complete redesign to meet risk and compliance requirements . Security must be built-in by design but knowing how best to do that , across diverse cloud
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